Nominations open for Nunavut election

Nunavut's chief electoral officer is warning potential candidates for the territorial election not to wait until the last minute to file their paperwork to run.

There will be many new faces in the legislative assembly after Feb. 16

The nomination period for candidates in Nunavut's upcoming election kicked off Monday for the Feb. 16 vote.

Those hoping to sit as a member of the territory's second legislative assembly have five days to submit their nomination papers.

Chief electoral officer Sandy Kusugak says her office is hectic now – and the workload will only increase this week as candidates fill out and hand in their nomination papers.

She says candidates can spend up to $30,000 on their campaigns, but they're not allowed to accept any campaign contributions until their nominations are accepted.

Kusugak says that makes it important to file the proper forms early. "Just to make sure they're right," she says. "Because if they rush in at 2 o'clock on Friday and hand in something only signed by 14 nominators or some of the nominators are not from the actual constituency or the financial agent hasn't signed his name or something like that, then people will find their nomination rejected and we don't want that."

Premier Paul Okalik, who's running for re-election in his Iqaluit riding, announced the dissolution of Nunavut's first legislative assembly on Friday.

Okalik says he hopes many Nunavummiut will do the same.

"I welcome any candidates that may want to pursue a career in public service and invite, in particular, more women in our legislature because we're losing one more woman and that's too few already."

Okalik is referring to Education Minister Manitok Thompson, who surprised many last week by announcing she no longer intends to run.

Several other high-profile MLAs, including Rankin Inlet's Jack Anawak, Baker Lake MLA Glenn McLean, and Cambridge Bay's Kelvin Ng are stepping down from politics.

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